Futsal Finals Fall 2013

So to cap off the season and a break from refereeing given the upcoming exams and holidays, this was a match to look forward to late last week. The weather oddly warmed up so you can only see specks of melting snow left on the ground.

There was some significant pre-game preparations to this match as I helped convene arrangements such as advance gym booking for warm-up time, colour co-ordinating all participants and advertising/promoting the fixture.

We even had a walk-out before the game. The players were pleasantly surprised by it and reacted positively which was nice.

Prior to the game, we warmed-up across the far touchline and it was of interest to players as they watched something different to regular routine games in the league. Another final we had made a good first impression in.

The game was definitely a tight encounter requiring the refs’ full concentration. The game’s footage was great for later review as I have been taking notes and found some useful cases for instructing/assessing. Speaking of instructing, my new interest has been sparked by the latest saga and discussion about Simulation in football.

Surprisingly enough, I punished, having witnessed for the first time, an act of simulation in this final in the second half as the first caution of the match. An attacker was one-on-one with the goalkeeper and after the goalkeeper made a save, the attacker jumped over the goalkeeper and then fell forwards of his own accord. A split hesitation second and I blew the whistle before showing a yellow card. It’s important to note that this isn’t an accumulated foul in Futsal. More on simulation to come later.

Now no more Futsal for a month. At least a month. Probably like… like… a month and two weeks. That’s 45 days?! No futsal. No football. Might as well be putting my head in the ground like an ostrich. And this is why snow sucks.